Working hard to make sense of it all

If you are looking for a “Best of” or a “Wow, What a Great Year” or even a “My Favorite Thing in 20167” kind of post, keep looking. There are plenty on my feed in WordPress, but this isn’t going to be one of those posts.

This year was NOT a good year, period. I generally try my hardest to look at the positive side of most situations, and while there were a few glimmers, this year a whole was a downer, not like any I’ve experienced.

If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that health-wise, this was a hard year for me. In May, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and went from diagnosis on Tuesday to surgery and done with school the following Wednesday. Standing a school hallway, a teacher working with your students is a tough way to find out that you have cancer. Telling your wife and kids, your parents, brother and close family, that’s tough too. However, I caught it early enough that the cancer had not gotten into my blood stream, thus right now I’m on a regiment of blood work, chest x-rays, and an occasional CT scan. No chemo or radiation, just “surveillance”.

In October, I suffer what the doctor called a “minor stroke”. Two times, I was left unable to talk or to form words. We had an MRI, a ultrasound of my carotid artery and heart, and another round of blood work, all to tell me I have a partial blockage in my brain and there’s very little treatment that can happen, only prevention. So, I became part of the millions of Americans who now take an anticoagulant and a statin drug for cholesterol. I’ve not had another “event” and I’m thankful for that, but don’t like taking drugs for my health.

And finally a new one, but relatively minor. In October, we started basketball, and we had nine girls and the time, so I scrimmaged with them. The day after, my heel just throbbed, and it’s been in varying degrees of pain every since. As I met my deducible a LONG time ago, I made an appointment to find out that I’m suffering from plantar fasciitis, or minor tears in planar fascia, the tissue the connects the heel bone to the toes. So, I’m on an anti-flamatory that doesn’t interact with the cholesterol medication, and currently have my foot taped for a week. My family is not happy with this, because I have smelly feet to begin with, and I cannot take the tape off or shower my foot. The nurse told me foot powder is my friend.

There have been issues with our youngest daughter and grade and boys, issues with the vehicles we owe, issues with money, issues with family, it’s just not been a good year.

The only two things that come to mind on the positive side: two graduations. First, in May, my oldest daughter graduated from high school, and is actually home with us, finishing her first semester at Iowa State. She’s working on a degree to be a software engineer, and finished with a 4.0, so I’m pretty proud of that. Plus, the things she talks about and the job opportunities she sees in front of her make me really jealous. The world is wide open for her, and I’m excited to see where she goes with it.

The other graduation, my wife graduated with her Masters degree. Unfortunately, this was not a good experience because the way she was treated by the college. She was told “you only need one or two more classes” which turned into three classes, was forced into student teaching (don’t get me started on student teaching, as my daughter talks about possible $20 an hour internships and we pay thousands of dollars for the “opportunity” to learn the trade), and when “all” her classes were done, suddenly, she had to take one more. There were so many things that didn’t go well, when the diploma showed, it was just a sigh of relief more than anything else.

So, as you look back, I talk about attitude and what it takes to be positive, but sitting here, finishing this up, I’m not real positive about 2016. I am positive about 2017 brings because it’s a new year, a new outlook, and what else can I do?

My wish for you in 2017: happiness, good health, and positive attitude.

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Darin Johnston

Just a guy from Iowa, who's suddenly found himself at a place in life he never expected to be 20 years ago! I live on an acreage with my wife, two daughters, two dogs, seven cats, chickens, two cows, and quarter acre garden.
Find me at my blog: Life of a Conflicted Teacher
https://iowaconflictedteacher.com/

4 thoughts on “The Year That Was……”

Darin, every day brings new struggles and new opportunities. Keep sharing your story so that others may help you along the long road ahead. We’ve got these miraculous bodies that we often (speaking of myself) treat like crap. Keep looking to what you CAN do, and how fortunate you are to be able to do the little things in life. I’m going with “I am” statements this year… “I am…” blessed with people who love me, fortunate to have a steady job I love, grateful being able to get out of bed each morning. We are rooting for you, Darin! One day at a time, mister! 😀 Everyone reading this has your wish for us as our wish for you – happiness, good health, and a positive attitude. Here’s to 2017!

Oh Joy, you and your endless positive attitude! I had to smile at your reply, and frankly, it will be a good year. It’s just been a rough one, and if felt good to purge that “yuck” that had been building for a while. And I agree entirely, each day brings it’s share of struggles and opportunities, which I wouldn’t change for the world. I told my students about my challenges, and how we each have the choice with the attitude we pick. For the most part, I’ll stay positive, because what else do I have? 🙂 Thank you for dropping by and for giving me your comments. I appreciate your perspective more than you know! 🙂

Some years are like that. What can you do except “Carry on.”? Looks like you are doing a good job of carrying on. Had my second PSA test following the surgery of Sept 21. Again a blessed zero. So I am taking my own “monitoring” journey with you and am very pleased you see similar results. Teen age daughters? Been there, done that, we know what you feel. Have faith in the other part of the parenthood equation – that of Time. Let the bad memories fade away. Let the good memories glow brighter.

Hey Gary! 🙂 I agree, “carry on” is all we can do, and for the most part, that’s what I’ll do. Thank you for your perspective, especially on teenaged daughters. It was always a treat coming up to your place at this time of the year because of everything your family offered: a different state, new landscape, and just enjoying the time we spent with your family. I hope as my children get older, they can see the good times we had together, doing things like this together! We’ll keep trying to make the good memories glow!

Mama, Coach's wife, Teacher of middle schoolers. I value moments and believe that the small things really are the BIG things. My thoughts run deep. Life is a mess- a cozy, uncomfortable mess. But it's mine, and only I can make it happy.

Three high school English teachers share ideas, hopes, questions, fears, struggles, insights, and successes during their journey to transform their classrooms, their teaching, and their students through rigorous independent reading and writing.